With more people searching and researching companies online, your website could easily be the first thing a potential customer sees about your business. Having a website design that hasn't been updated in years conveys that your company doesn't belong in 2010. Depending on the business, it is imperative to keep your website up-to-date. There are a few simple ways you can see if it is time for you to revamp your website. Your Style is Outdated - Your website should be informative, not distracting. Clip art, flashing animation, outdated colors, and distracting backgrounds are all guilty practices many websites fall into. Look ...

As a full service marketing agency, it’s kind of hard not to notice the marketing efforts utilized by the businesses around us. It’s great to see campaigns being launched and creativity being stretched. So we thought it would be interesting to make this a regular thing and see what companies are doing to help grow their business and increase their exposure. Today’s featured business: Express I received this ad from Express awhile back, and recently decided to check on their website to see how the promotion was going.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that Express.com had updated their website to be ...

The best way to figure out if a marketing campaign is doing well is by looking at the data. Reading up on your clicks and conversions will quickly tell you what works and what doesn't. There are a few things that should stand out to you when looking at your marketing campaign's data. If your campaign suddenly gains or loses traffic Even minor changes to a landing page or website can make a significant difference in your turn around. If you are experience a significant difference, do some testing ot find out why. If subscribers are constantly opening your messages When customers are ...

Many retail sites will find that shoppers will come to visit their site, add items to their shopping cart, but then abandon the cart. According to a report from Experian, 61% of items left in an online shopping cart are not purchased. One way to try to bring back customers to these abandoned shopping carts is through a follow-up e-mail. A follow-up email can help remind the customer of the products they were interested in and could potentially reignite their interest. You can also attempt to include an incentive to encourage people to return to their purchase. Research found that email campaigns ...

Small businesses are planning on doing more online marketing in 2010, according to studies from Vistaprint and Ad-ology. Small businesses are looking to increase their marketing plans for social media (14%), online and search advertising (11%). Also, only 38% of small businesses currently have a company website, but 32% of respondents said they would be interested in building a website if they had more time and money to spend on it. In a separate survey, Ad-ology found that 46% of US small businesses did not have a website. With more small businesses becoming interested in online marketing, it is critical to have a website ...

Having a great website can easily be your best marketing tool. Potential customers can learn about your company and its products and services. Only 3% of buyers from various companies say a website has no influence at all over a purchase decision, according to a survey by RainToday.com. A professional services website has had an increasing influence on purchasing decision over the past four years. The survey reports that a website holds at least some influence over 74% of buyers' decision. This is up from 2005 where it was only 51%. A professional design with valuable content, pictures, and information can help ...

2010 is well on its way and it can be easy to get caught up in the day-to-day activities. However, with the year still new, it is important to reflect on your business' 1-to-1 marketing and see if you are effectively executing your online solutions. Here are a few things to review and see if they are being properly utilized. Review your website. Look at your website with a fresh set of eyes. Is the information you want conveyed properly to your target audience? Could new visitors quickly find information about your products and services? Are you clearly highlighting how to find ...

Having a website that loads quickly does more than just help your visitors, it also helps your organic rankings on Google. Having a site that is image-heavy and uses things like AJAX, XML, and Flash could hurt after a certain point. Google announced a Site Speed site that provides resources to webmasters to speed up their pages. A faster loading website leads to a reduction in bounce rate of the site, more leads, greater chances of conversion, reduction of bandwidth and hosting costs and more. Here are some things that could be slowing down your website load time: Slow re-direct Hosting on a slow server Using ...

According to a recent article published in DMNews by Dianna Dilworth, FedEx is getting ready to execute a multichannel marketing campaign in 2010 as part of the company’s new strategy to integrate its brand messaging and creative across channels. The marketing efforts include both online and offline channels with a unified message directing consumers to a microsite designed to engage them. Steve Pacheco, director of advertising at FedEx, stated that, it is the first truly integrated marketing campaign launched by the company. He firmly believes that it is crucial to integrate as many channels of communications as possible since consumers are ...

Maintaining the consumers you may have gained over the holiday season can become difficult as the new year continues. Most sign up for emails in order to gain deals and coupons for their holiday shopping. Here are a few ways to keep those shoppers interested in your business long after the holidays are over. Entice subscribers to act. Ask them to fill out a survey about your services and provide an incentive for finishing the survey. It will help remind people of your business as well as give you some feedback on your company. Thank shoppers for their purchases and create promotions ...

To many, the revolution in social media networks may seem like a fad that will fade out just as fast it appeared.  Yet, the truth is that social media is one of the fastest ways to reach out to prospective consumers. Between Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other similar social media platforms, everything that can be said about you, whether good or bad, is transmitted almost instantaneously across the globe. With over 300 million users, Facebook is by far one of the biggest social media networks out there.  While it may have begun as a tool to keep college students in touch, ...

Having a website and a presence on cyberspace doesn’t mean you’ll succeed, not in today’s competitive world of marketing.  While an online presence is key, you have to do more than just have a web address to keep your edge. Once you have a web address, you need to market yourself on all fronts.  This involves optimizing your website through either Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or by using Pay-Per-Click (PPC) technologies to drive more traffic to your site.  Yes, this is the equivalent of putting up a banner or awning outside your brick-and-mortar store telling a passerby who you are. SEO requires ...